BA_Harrison Directed by and starring Jackie Chan, Project A is a martial arts classic, a lavish late-19th century adventure featuring some of the most incredible fight action and death defying stunts imaginable. Chan plays Navy recruit Dragon Ma Yue Lung, who teams up with police captain Tzu (Yuen Baio) and lovable thief Fei (Sammo Hung) to try and bring to justice the pirates (led by Lor Sam Pau, played by Dick Wei) who have been marauding the Hong Kong seas.Even though the film's plot is slight and contains plenty of the broad slapstick comedy that I often struggle with, the quantity and quality of the action still qualifies the film as unmissable, its three stars, Chan, Baio and Hung, at the top of their game (causing plenty of pain for the poor stuntmen extras). Chan, in particular, delivers some of his finest moments, including a brilliantly choreographed scene involving bicycles and narrow alleyways, a fight amongst the gears and cogs of a clock tower, and, most memorable of all, a bone-crunching high fall guaranteed to make the jaw drop. The excellent finale sees our three heroes take on Lor Sam Pau in the pirate's island hideout, and is well worth the wait, all four fighters providing impeccably timed and expertly executed feats of physical prowess.

Leofwine_draca Another stunner from Jackie Chan, and one of his biggest hits as a star and director. PROJECT A follows the winning '80s formula for Chan, namely a fast-moving plot concerning numerous heroic characters and villains all with their individual connections, plenty of loose humour ranging from slapstick jokes to juvenile comedy, a light-heartedness of touch making it impossible not to enjoy, tons of cool martial arts action, mad stunts, and winning performances. In fact, the only difference really is the setting, namely 1900s Hong Kong as opposed to a modern day thriller. Nonetheless the setting doesn't really have much impact on the movie which is much the same as any other fight flick starring the three brothers.The bad guys this time around are a bunch of typical movie-looking pirates led by a tough tattooed guy who proves near on impossible to beat come the climax. No surprise then that he's played by Hong Kong regular Dick Wei in what's his toughest and most impressive performance. Yet much of the film takes place on land as Chan attempts to outwit and trap a criminal gang who are conspiring to give the pirates a cache of one hundred rifles in turn for their protection. Many comic misadventures follow as Chan loses his job as a coast guard, is forced to become a dreaded policeman, then quits and finally manages to catch the bad guys single-handedly. The film displays Chan at the peak of his considerable powers, evident in the numerous fight sequences which are as always impeccably staged, complete with fine editing and a reliance on super-human manoeuvres and imaginative hits and use of props.The major chase in this film is pretty novel, seeing as it takes place on push-bikes rather than the more typical motorbikes/cars or boats. There are plenty of stunts and bone-breaking displays of human athleticism to keep the action flowing merrily along, including one fantastic battle within the machinery of a town's clock and the ensuing stunt fall from the clock tower, in which Chan gets to pay tribute to one of his heroes, silent film star Harold Lloyd. The ending offers lots of major explosions, highly amusing situations (the hilarious "password" scene is a killer), false identities, and some elaborate, long-running martial arts fights showing a bunch of seasoned performers doing their finest work. Solid supporting roles are given to Yuen Biao as hard-boiled cop Captain Chi (slightly underused however) and especially Sammo Hung, excelling as a thief with a heart of gold who gets caught up in the action. The only thing missing is a substantial female lead. Otherwise, PROJECT A is a classic, one of the best action comedies of all time and a piece of very entertaining entertainment.

Sean Newgent It seems that for the most part, Jackie Chan movies are the most entertaining with a historical setting and especially when Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao along. This film, following a man named Dragon's exploits as he tracks down and defeats a group of pirates who have been screwing with the Hong Kong Coast Guard and are smuggling weapons, is one of the best offerings of Chan's early career.Much like the majority of his films, this one is full of good comedy and slapstick. Compounding that with some impressive and plentiful action as well as a decent story (for a Chan film at least) and you have a winner. Sammo Hung and Jackie work together quite well (duh, they're basically twins) and the fight scenes including them both are a joy. The other fight scenes are exceptionally choreographed and some of the stunts are death defying.As a Jackie Chan film, this is a good offering. Fun, action-packed, and as entertaining as they come, Project A is a great way to blow a movie night.

Shawn McKenna While Jackie Chan's previous film Dragon Lord (1982) did not have as much local success as Chan wanted his next film Project A would be an artistic and commercial success. It is the maturation point for Jackie as a filmmaker and would start a string of successes that would help establish Chan as an action auteur. He directed, starred, co-written and even hired two "brothers" in Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao (they had grown up together in the same opera troupe and performed as the Seven Little Fortunes amongst others; Sammo was already an established success at this time and certainly is a prodigious presence in this movie) in the first film where they all had decent acting time -- kudos to those who can name the first film they acted in together.Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) is a sergeant in the Hong Kong Water Police where pirates are problematic on the coastline (they would remain an issue even past WWII), his department is poorly financed, there are interdepartmental squabbles with the landlubber police and their haughty commander Captain Chi (Kwan Hoi-San) and his nephew Inspector Hong Tin Chi (Yuen Biao: Knockabout) and they just had their remaining ships blown up real good (nice model sets in that scene). Project A is the codename to combat these buccaneers. However, it looks bad for the Water Police when they get merged back into the main police force and there is a plot to steal rifles and be sold to the pirates headed by Lo San Po (Dick Wei: The Five Venoms) who ultimately does not seem that bad to me. Later the pirates make the ultimate mistake in kidnapping a ship with a Rear Admiral aboard and take them hostage. This leads to Dragon Ma eventually teaming up with wayward thief and gambler Fei (Sammo Hung) and Inspector Hong to combat these irascible swashbucklers.There are several stunts in this movie that are truly amazing. Much has been stated about the clock tower fall inspired by Harold Lloyd in Safety Last and with good reason. It is a superlative stunt and still one of my favorites as well as Jackie too. Jackie hangs by a clock hand about 50 feet above the surface and lets go to crash through two cloth awnings until the rude smacking into the ground proving that gravity is indeed a harsh mistress. It would be the first "superstunt" Jackie would do in a film and which would soon be a reoccurring theme in his movies to risk his life to please the audience. All three takes of this life-threatening drop are available to see on the film: two are shown in the movie and one is shown in the outtakes at the end. Every take looks quite painful. Leading up to this situation is another quick stunt that was quite dangerous. He climbs a flag pole to the top while handcuffed so he can unwrap himself from that mast and escape his predicament. But you look at how high he is from the concrete floor below and realize that if he messes this stunt it could be much worse than the fall through the awnings.The comedic fighting in this film is also quite adroit and amazing in its action direction led by Jackie and Sammo. The first scene between the water and land police is a crazy mêlée of kung fu, throwing objects and spaghetti. It is quite reminiscent of an updated western bar fight. The Keatonesque bicycle chase and action sequence is a brilliant combination of the two. While the scene certainly had been influenced by such films as Sherlock Jr., especially in the bicycle camera view towards the end, Jackie gives it such a unique touch that makes it such an aesthetically pleasing and entertaining spectacle. Add in several other fight scenes and a fantastic finale with the three brothers and the antagonist and you have quite a satisfying film.Project A was a hit in Hong Kong (19M HK dollars box office) and found critical support there as well. Jackie Chan would be nominated for Best Actor for Hong Kong Film Award; however, this film would win Best Action Design (Jackie Chan's Stuntman Association was even nominated against itself that year in Wheels on Meals) an award it truly deserved. It is also an important film for Hong Kong cinema. It helped push action movies into modern day locales and away from the Qing era and before dominated themes (though this film is considered a period film since it takes place in early 20th century).While the film may not know what to do with female characters like Wong Man-Ying and the plot is not the most sublimely cohesive -- there is a grenade scene early in the film which seemed a bit excessive, not that funny and did not seem to fit -- this film is consistently fun and beautifully directed (cinematographer Cheung Yiu-Jo does not get enough credit for the work he has done with Jackie Chan). Action aficionados certainly talk about this film though it is somewhat overshadowed by Police Story (one of my favorite films) when they discuss the oeuvre of Jackie Chan. With the humor, the dangerous stunts with complete disregard for human life and the awesome action scenes it is easy to recommend this. I certainly love this film and find multiple viewings rewarding. There does remain one question that I will resolve soon: which film is better: this or the sequel?